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Shellsea
Tinkerer
Username: Shellsea
Post Number: 2
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 02, 2012 - 02:43 pm: | 
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Hello all,
I recently picked up a beautiful Zeiss Ikonta 523/2 folder in a charity shop for £30. It comes with the Zeiss-Opton Tessar 105mm f3.5 lens and Compur Synchro MX shutter. The camera is in excellent cosmetic condition but unfortunately the bellows, which are otherwise very crisp and light-tight (when examined in the dark with a torchlight), have a misfold and any attempt to massage them into the correct position has so far failed.
I haven’t tried out the camera with film yet but I’m wondering whether the misfolded bellows will intrude into the light path and also interfere with film planarity or even scratch up the film.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks I could try to stiffen the bellows and repair the misfold? At first I thought that if the worst came to the worst, I might be able to replace the bellows with new ones but then I learnt that doing so would involve stripping off the leather and drilling out the rivets in the film chamber. The thought of performing invasive surgery on such a fine looking camera truly made my heart sink.
Another problem I have is that the shutter seems inconsistent and sticky, especially at the slower shutter speeds. 1 sec is more like 3 secs. I did exercise the shutter quite a bit but I haven’t seen any improvement.
On a lesser or more shabby-looking camera I might have contemplated stripping down the shutter myself following the instructions on the wonderful kievsurvival and davidrichert sites. On the other hand, I hesitate to shell out for a professional shutter overhaul unless a fix can be found for the bellows as well. What do you think?
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Finnegan
Tinkerer
Username: Finnegan
Post Number: 208
Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 02, 2012 - 05:26 pm: |
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First thought: live with it. Second thought: syringe with white glue through the back of the bellows and hold, by hand, in correct fold position until the glue sets (about 30 minutes) being sure to insert the syringe at a steep angle so as not to go all the way through thus puncturing the outer side of the bellows. And clean the haze off your lens. |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 364
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 03, 2012 - 09:35 am: |
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I don't think the misfold is going to hurt the light path any, though you can make that determination better yourself by looking in the back with the bellows extended. You may just have to manipulate it into position, and leave it closed for a week or so to get it to set.
Like Finnegan says, that lens is awful hazy. And with the sticky shutter, I'd say it's due for a CLA. If you don't have the proper tools, then sending it out would be a good thing to do. But if you've done some repairs to other cameras, it's not much harder working on one of these. In fact, I prefer working on these older Zeiss folders. The worse part is getting the rear element out, but that's just an ergonomic thing easily overcome with some patience, and long spanners.
PF |
Shellsea
Tinkerer
Username: Shellsea
Post Number: 3
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 04, 2012 - 11:59 am: |
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Thank you both for your comments and suggestions. I think I will try to manipulate the bellows into position and leave it closed for a time to see whether it improves.
I knew someone would say the lens is hazy and I was quite shocked on first seeing the photo myself. I can assure you it doesn't look that way in reality. The film compartment was VERY dusty and despite my best efforts to blow the dust away with a blower some of it is still drifting around in the chamber. There were also some white flecks in the area around the back of the lens that I initially worried might be mould except that the film chamber doesn't smell mouldy at all. What would be a good solvent to clean this area with? Would Ronsonol lighter fluid be safer to use than isopropyl alcohol? I really need to get those flecks and dust off my lens as even if it's not mould it could easily end up providing food for fungus, I suppose.
I'm still puzzling over the film advance mechanism on this camera. When loading the film the instructions say to insert the film leader into the wider slot of the take-up spool and tighten the protective paper by turning the film transport knob several times. However, I didn't seem to be able to turn the knob past the red dot except by firing the shutter first. Having done this a worrying number of times (about a dozen, I think) I saw figure 1 on the film backing paper go past the red window before the film advance knob came to a stop on the red dot. I take it that I landed between frames and this was confirmed when I developed the film (Ilford FP4+) and all of my exposures were affected by severe frame overlap.
I hope someone can point out what I did wrong! |
Hanskerensky
Tinkerer
Username: Hanskerensky
Post Number: 224
Registered: 05-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 04, 2012 - 03:17 pm: |
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I have a 518/2 Nettar 6x9 which in filmtransport is probably much the same as your Ikonta.
Does it have a separate filmcounter ? If not then transporting the film to the next frame is done completly manualy by observing the number on the film protective paper through the red window. Just transport till you see the next number appearing and then close the lid of the red window (straylight !).
On my Nettar you don't have to fire the shutter before you can transport. If you have to, then there is probably something wrong in the transport mechanism.
There is of course a double exposure prevention so, after each shutter release, you have to transport the film to enable the release button again. However, the transportlength needed for this resetting of the double exposure prevention is much shorter then the length needed till the next framenumber, hence (probably) your severe frame overlap. |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 367
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 04, 2012 - 08:38 pm: |
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On my 521/2, you only need to turn the winding knob 180 degrees to reset the double exposure preventer (DEP). You should be able to wind past the point when the red dot shows up until the proper number is in the counter window. All the red dot indicates is that the DEP is reset, and the shutter can now be fired (if it has been charged). Pressing the shutter button without the shutter being charged will force you to miss an exposure, as you now have to wind to the next frame to reset the DEP. There may be some initial resistance when the red dot appears, but you should be able to overcome that, and wind on to frame 1.
So, the proceedure is 1:Wind 2:Charge the shutter 3:Check exposure settings and focus 4:Shoot 5:Wind to next frame. On some cameras, it is preferred that you do not wind on to the next frame until you are sure you are going to make an exposure. This will help in keeping the film flat.
PF |
Shellsea
Tinkerer
Username: Shellsea
Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 06, 2012 - 02:19 pm: |
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Thanks everyone, that's quite enlightening!
quote:There may be some initial resistance when the red dot appears, but you should be able to overcome that, and wind on to frame 1.
Well, I think that's what tripped me: on winding on the film and getting to the red dot I felt the resistance and backed off, not wanting to force anything. I've tried again just now, without film, and I can indeed turn the film advance knob past the red dot, it's just a little stiffer! I'll report back when I've tried again with film. |
Shellsea
Tinkerer
Username: Shellsea
Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - 12:57 pm: |
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Update: I loaded a second roll, this time using the red window to advance to the next frame, and the film came out fine, so thanks everyone for your help and advice. Also, it seems that by manipulating the bellows into the correct fold before retracting them, the misfold has been corrected somewhat.
All in all, I'm really pleased with the way the camera handles and all the functions work quite smoothly. However, the negatives don't look sharp to me and I suspect the lens is out of focus at infinity. I have two accessory rangefinders, a Watameter I and a Voigtlander, that I have calibrated so that they both agree with each other but even with careful use and using smallish apertures (f8 and f11) my pictures are still out of focus (as far as I can tell). It's a shame that I don't have a scanner to post photos here as it'd be great to have someone else's opinion on the matter and I'm disappointed that I cannot make prints either as the community darkroom that I've been using is not equipped for 6x9 format.
However, I have been reading up on lens collimation and I'm thinking of having a go with a CD cover and some Scotch Magic tape in lieu of ground glass.
One lingering worry I have is that I noticed some crazing on the inside of the spool chamber, on the right hand side of the camera. Could this be a sign of impact damage, and if so could this have knocked the lens out of focus or done something even more fatal to it? There are no dings or scratches on the the outside of the camera nor any other sign that the camera might have been dropped.
Finally, a question about the distance scale focus ring: what is it that I align with the arrow, the numbers themselves or the markings next to the numbers? Apologies if I'm being thick, I hope this makes sense. |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 369
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2012 - 11:48 am: |
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Shellsea, you align the markings next to the numbers with the arrow. Once you reset the infinity focus, your photos should come out fine. Congrats on getting it back in working condition, and I hope you never have to do anything to the shutter. It's not one of my favorites to work on, although I'm getting to know more about it.
PF |
Shellsea
Tinkerer
Username: Shellsea
Post Number: 6
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 15, 2012 - 10:58 am: |
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Br1078lum, thank you for clarifying how to set the focus ring and also for alerting me to the difficulties of working on the Synchro Compur shutter. I had been toying with the idea of doing a shutter CLA myself (pics with shutter speeds over 1/50 sec were ok but anything slower than that was hugely overexposed) but will now put this on the back burner until I've had the opportunity to gain some experience by practising on a less valuable camera. |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 375
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 15, 2012 - 07:36 pm: |
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Well, there are certain versions of the Syncro-Compur that aren't too bad, but there are some that are just a bear. It's one of the few shutters you actually have to lubricate to get it to work correctly. This last one I cleaned (and I'll post a new thread when I get the photos done) had a million little chrome chips that I flushed out. I'll have to go back in to clean the straglers out of the lens after the second roll, but at least the camera it is in has an easy to remove front optical block (Ansco Super Memar w 2/50 Solagon).
PF |
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